AN EXPOSITION OF PSALM 22 (7)
Psalm 22

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IX. Christ declares the conversion of the nations (vv.26-29).

"The poor shall eat ..." (v.26a). These are the "poor in spirit" (Matthew 5:3), those who acknowledge their spiritual poverty before God. These will acknowledge their lack of righteousness and their inability to rectify their plight. These are therefore also all who "hunger and thirst for righteousness" (Matthew 5:6). And these "shall eat" - of Christ!

1. They will eat of Christ by believing in Him as the "Bread of Life" – as He Himself taught (John 6:48-58): "I am the bread of life. ... the bread that I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world. ... unless you [through believing] eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. ..."

2. They will eat of Christ in the ordinance of the Lord's Supper – as He Himself commanded (Matthew 26:26): "Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, 'Take, eat; this is My body.'"

"... and be satisfied; ..." (v.26b). All who eat only the physical breads of this world will die (as in John 6:49). All who eat the deceitful bread of false religion will break their teeth on its gravel (Proverbs 20:17). But all who eat of the Christ the Living Bread are assured by Him, "If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever" (John 6:51).

"... Those who seek Him will praise the LORD" (v.26b). – All who seek Christ for their spiritual sustenance will praise Jehovah for revealing Him to them.

"... Let your heart live forever!" (v.26c). This is the promise of Christ to all who believe on Him (John 3:15): "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life."

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn to the LORD, ..." (v.27a). These are all who from even the remotest lands of the earth obey the command of Christ, "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other." (Isaiah 45:22).

"... And all the families of the nations shall worship before You" (v.27b). Note the order of the conversion of God's people:

1. They will "remember" the Lord they had forgotten – as the prodigal son remembered the blessedness of His Father's house "when he came to himself" (Luke 15:17).

2. They will "turn" to the Lord – from their evil ways in order to seek His face (2 Chronicles 7:14) and keep His commandments (2 Kings 17:13), and from dead idols in order to serve the living and true God (1 Thessalonians 1:9).

3. They will "worship" the Lord – as Saul of Tarsus adored the Christ he once despised and persecuted (Acts 9:1-6).

"For the kingdom is the LORD's, ..." (v.28a). This is not Christ's universal kingdom, His dominion over the entire creation in which He reigns as Jehovah (as in Daniel 4:34f). Rather, this is Christ's mediatorial kingdom, His dominion over the saints as the God-Man (as in John 18:36). It is populated by all whom God has "delivered from the power of darkness and translated into the kingdom of the Son of His love" (Colossians 1:13). Contrary to a popular modern opinion, Christ is not waiting for this kingdom: "For the kingdom is the LORD's" already!

"... And He rules over the nations" (v.28b). Christ rules over the saints in grace. But as for the wicked, "He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter's vessels" (Revelation 2:27). How does He rule over you?

"All the prosperous of the earth shall eat and worship; ..." (v.29a). Reference here is probably to those formerly identified in verse 26: "The poor shall eat and be satisfied." Through feasting on Christ they will be made "prosperous"; but they will never cease to "eat and worship". No one who ever sits down at Christ's table ever desires to leave it.

"... All those who go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive" (v.29b). Reference here is probably to those who, having eaten and worshiped Christ all through their earthly lives, now come to the end of their earthly pilgrimages. But although they "go down to the dust" by virtue of their bodies being reduced to it (Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7), they shall never cease to "bow before Him". Every knee that bows to Christ in this life will bow to Him in the next.

1. Christ has a "posterity" ("seed" in KJV). The Hebrew word designates the whole line of one's descendants or offspring. Christ the God-Man is not only "the Seed of the woman" (Genesis 3:15), but also "the Everlasting Father" (Isaiah 9:6) who in turn has His own seed. Christ's seed or posterity is not physical, for He fathered no physical children. Rather, His descendants are spiritual, the "sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus" (Galatians 3:26). And since Christ is God, God's sons are Christ's sons.

i. Christ identifies His posterity as "the children whom God has given Me" (Hebrews 2:13; cp. Isaiah 8:18). They were given to Christ in sovereign election unto salvation before the foundation of the world (John 17:2), and saved and preserved by Him through His earthly ministry (vv.6-19), and shall be perfected with and in Him (vv.20-26).

ii. The Holy Spirit identifies Christ's posterity as Christ's seed (Isaiah 53:10): "When You make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days." Christ died without natural posterity. But in His resurrected life He has seen those who are His spiritual descendants by virtue of His offering for their sin.

iii. Jehovah identifies Christ's posterity as an everlasting seed (Psalm 89:4, 29, 36): "Your seed I will establish forever .... His seed also I will make to endure forever .... His seed shall endure forever." Christ will lose none of His children.

iv. Holy Scriptures repeatedly speak of Christ's posterity as His "generation" (v.30b in KJV): "it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation." The word "generation" here would refer not to a people living at a certain time, but to a people in all times characterized by quality, condition, class. Accordingly, "This is Jacob, the generation of those who seek Him [i.e., Christ], who seek Your face" (Psalm 24:6). This is "the generation of God's children" (Psalm 73:15), "the children of God" as distinct from "the children of the devil" in every age (1 John 3:10). This is "the generation of the righteous" (Psalm 14:5), those who have forsaken legal righteousness and are clothed in the imputed righteousness of Jesus Christ (as in Philippians 3:9), and who imitate Christ their Righteousness by practicing righteousness (1 John 3:7, 10). This is that "chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy" (1 Peter 2:9f). This is not that "stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit was not faithful to God" (Psalm 78:8).

2. All Christ's posterity "shall serve Him", just as the posterity of the devil serves him (John 8:44). They shall serve Him through willingly and lovingly worshiping Him and obeying His commandments.

"... It will be recounted of the Lord to the next generation, ..." (v.30b). Christ's posterity will extend through many earthly generations, and each will in turn recount the blessings of Christ to all, giving all the glory to Him. "One generation shall praise Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts" (Psalm 145:4). As our fathers have faithfully declared the gospel of Christ to us, let us be diligent to declare the same gospel to our children.

"They will come ..." (v.31a). Men from every successive generation who hear Christ's posterity recounting His praises will be drawn by sovereign grace to Him. Furthermore, "they will come to him ...

"... and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, ..." (v.31b). None who come to Christ declare their own righteousness, for they readily confess they have none in and of themselves. Any who boast of their personal or self-righteousness have never come to Christ. All who come to Christ confess, "I will make mention of Your righteousness, of Yours only" (Psalm 71:16).

"... That He has done this" (v.31c). That is, the only righteousness that is acceptable to God is that which was wrought by Christ in His perfect life and in shedding His blood on Calvary. In so doing, He ended His life with words like those ending this psalm: "It is finished!" (John 19:30).

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